The Old Monarchy
The old monarchy refers to the main religious movement currently present upon the world of Neep. Because the monarchy has so many deities of different domains it allows people from all different backgrounds to find someone to pray to. It also allows for many different ways for mortals to pray or show their beliefs, take the goddess Shata'dan her followers often use leeches to extract blood from themself to use in their rituals, whereas the followers of Ard are often farmers that give away some of their crops in order to secure themselves a great harvest. History Origins The Book of Ages, the closest thing to an entire timeline for the world of Neep, doesn't have much in the way of details for the origins of Neep but it does have some myths of how the Old Monarchy came to bring order to the planet. It is said that during the Age of Chaos there were four moons that hung in the sky above Neep, there isn't much information about the moons from this time but one night the smallest of the four moons, since this was before the time of written history the moon had no name, was brought crashing down onto the surface of Neep. This impact is said to of created the Moon Trench, the deepest body of water on the planet. The cracking of the moon gave birth to the Albantiuwn Monarchy. A family of unfathomable power but they were sentient, they brought control to the material plane. They slew some of the Mashahka '''and sedated the rest, bringing peace to the world. '''The Age of Beginning Once order had been brought it is said that the gods then began to form the landmass and creatures of Neep. It is believed that some of the family even formed some of the mortal races in their image, the most famous being [[Galmaer|'Galmaer']] who was supposed to of created the original elves in his image. During this time the gods had free rain doing whatever they wanted and creating whatever they could imagine, but after many centuries tension began to form between the family. To settle this Ard, the father figure and oldest of all the gods, arranged for the family to meet and discuss their domains. Ard had had the idea that each of the family could choose a domain to rule over and protect, he himself choosing strength and land, most of the gods were for this however there was some who weren't happy with the agreement but all were forced to take the pledge. This led to the Age of Myth. The Age of Myth This historical era is seen by some as the peak of Neeps existence, the gods ruled across the creatures of Neep in a just and fair way. Ard made sure that each member of the family weren't as directly involved with moulding the world as they had been previously. They each were allowed to communicate with their own clerics and priests, some of the gods even walked the surface of Neep performing miracles and there are rumours of the gods having demi-gods, half mortal half god children. During this time there were great magical kingdoms, technology was far superior as to that of the present day and even kings of almost god-like strength. There are some texts that even describe a city that floated above the land up amongst the clouds. A lot of this knowledge and history has been lost to the past or wiped out during The Pantheonic Wars. The Pantheonic Wars There has been many wars and battles through history, but none as long or as deadly as the Pantheonic Wars. At the end of the Age of Myth, as society was at its peak, the gods were at their strongest. They each had kingdoms worth of followers that would take their word as law, some of the gods thought that they could use this to their advantage. In fighting had already begun amongst the monarchy but it was when Daranak, the god of oceans, told his followers to begin siege on the city of First Snow. This was due to an argument between himself and Shata'dan, the goddess of ice and blood, where they argued where they could rule over since their domains were so similar. This attack spiralled into a full out war between the gods, as well as all of their followers backing each one. Some of the gods creating factions amongst themselves and their demi godchildren, but some fought alone. This war lasted decades causing catastrophic damages across the planet, most cities that stood during this time were smashed to the ground, libraries and a great number of historical texts were destroyed and millions of people were killed because of a petty family feud. One day a few of the greatest heroes of Neep met in secret to discuss the cataclysm that was occurring, at this point the war had been raging for close to forty years. They came to the conclusion that it was time for the gods to leave the material plane and let the mortals lead their own destinies. One of these mortals was the demigod son of Alamat, he was a trusted advisor to the goddess and managed to talk her into joining their cause. It is unclear what happened at the end of the wars, but Alamat and the mortal races used the old Albantiuwn technology that was used to trap and kill the old Mashaka titans on the other gods. Once Alamat and her heroes had subdued all of her family they told them of the situation, many of the gods cleared their vision of hated and realised what destruction they had caused. They all agreed to leave this plane and never directly interact with the mortal races again. They each created a plane that they could control and inhabit, [[Galmaer|'Galmaer']] crafted a weapon for each of the gods, and they all infused their weapon with some of their power and bestowed their weapon onto their chosen mortal. Then they left Neep for good, and the Mortal Era began. The Unspoken Age After the para casal destruction that had happened in the last age the gods were gone from the world of Neep, they each promised not to directly interact with the mortal races or the material plane. Not much is known about this age, due to the destruction that occurred in the pantheonic wars, but it is believed that many people gave up their beliefs in the monarchy after seeing the chaos they brought to their homelands. However, there must have been some mortals that kept the religion going since the Old Monarchy has become the most widespread and popular religion within Aleal. The Mortal Age Most of the monarchy use their most devout followers in order to interact with the world, giving them visions, guidance and allowing them to use their belief to channel their holy magic. As the Age of Mortals has passed many people have forgotten about these gods and some have chosen other religions to follow. It's been over 3000 years since the last time the Albantiuwn Monarchy walked amongst mortals, and there hasn't been a new welder in many years. However, there are some murmurings amongst clerics of the old family of something coming. Deities Below are the members of the Monarchy and their respective domains: * Ard (Land and Strength) * Alamat (Death and Fate) * Bisala (Bravery) * Daranak (Oceans) * Galmaer (Knowledge and Judgement) * Haza'ansa''' '''(Balance and Luck) * Hubuk (Passion) * Maroff (Sacrifice and Sun) * Saharyih (Magic and Travellers) * Shata'dan (Blood and Ice) * Taaeun (Plague)